Article of furniture



y 4, 1956 w. SHEPHERDSON ARTICLE OF FURNITURE Filed May 18, 1953 INVENTOR. ML. SHEPHEEOSOM United States Patent ARTICLE OF FURNITURE William L. Shepherdson, Phoenix, Ariz., assignor of thirty-three and one-third per cent to .l. E. Meacham and thirty-three and one-third per cent to Hardy A. N orvill, Phoenix, Ariz.

Application May 18, 1953, Serial No. 355,469

1 Claim. (Cl. 155196) This invention pertains to improvements in articles of furniture and is particularly directed to improved structure for demountable and collapsible furniture elements of chairs, tables, and the like.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide an improved article of furniture such as a chair which may be taken apart and stored away in a comparatively small space while at the same time comprising an extremely rigid and durable chair assembly when put together.

Another object of this invention is to provide an improved method of securing and locking the stretcher bar members of knock-down furniture.

It is also another object of this invention to provide an improved latch structure for securing the chair elements together in final latched up condition.

It is a further object of this invention to provide an improved knocked-down chair structure combining the features of stretcher bar elements and latch means to form a completely rigid and eflicient chair when assembled.

Further features and advantages of this invention will appear from a detail description of the drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a front left side perspective view of an article of furniture comprising a chair incorporating the features of this invention.

Fig. 2 is a view of the back frame of the chair shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a left hand side elevation of the left hand leg side frame.

Fig. 4 is a view of the front stretcher bar.

Fig. 5 is a bottom view of the seat.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged perspective view partly broken away showing the stretcher bar locking mechanism.

Fig. 7 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view on the line 7-7 of Fig. 3 particularly showing the latch mechanisms.

As illustrative of one embodiment of this invention there is shown a chair having a right leg side frame indicated generally at 10 comprising the rear leg 11 and front leg 12 connected together by the side rail 13 and the rung 14.

Similarly, a left hand leg side frame indicated generally at 15 comprises the rear leg 16 and the front leg 17 connected together by the side rail 18 and the rung 19.

The back frame structure of the chair shown in Fig. 2 and indicated generally at 20 comprises the top rail member 21 and the bottom rail member 22 rigidly connected together by the rungs 23. Dowel pin holes 24 and 25 are formed in the under side of the top rail member 21 so as to engage over the respective dowel pins 27 and 28 fixed in the top of the respective rear legs 11 and 16. The ends of the bottom rail member 22 are provided with dowel pin holes 29 and 30 which engage the dowel pins 31 fixed to and facing inwardly from the respective rear legs 11 and 16.

Across the upper front portions of the front legs 12 and 17 is secured a stretcher bar 32 having an angle plate 33 on each of its ends 34 and secured to the ends and the ice bottom surface 35 by suitable screws 36 as best seen in Fig. 6. The angle plate 33 has formed in its bottom surface 37 an enlarged slot 38 which terminates at the intersection with the side surface 39 with a narrower slot 40 of elongated character extending upwardly toward the top of the stretcher bar 32, The .siot 40 is adapted. to be engaged over the head 41 of the locking screw 42 fixed to the inwardly facing surfaces 43 of the front legs 12 and 1.7. Thus, as the stretcher bar 32 is placed over the head 41 with the slots 4-0 behind the heads 41 and the screws 42 and pushed downwardly the front legs 12 and 17 at the top portions are locked securely together.

The seat 44 is provided with a pair of parallel longitudinally disposed grooves 45 extending along the under side of each side edge of the seat 44 as best shown in Fig. 5. The grooves 45 are arranged to engage over tongues 45a formed on the top of each of the side rails 13 and 18 of the side frames 10 and 15. Also fixed intermediate the ends of the top surface of the side rails 13 and 18 are the dowel pins 46, which are preferably formed of metallic materials for greater rigidity and strength. The dowel pins 46 are arranged to enter into bores 47, Figs. 5 and 7, of the base pates 48 of the latch mechanisms shown generally at 49, Fig. 7. These latch mechanisms 49 comprise in addition to the base members 48 secured to the seat bottom by the screws 50 and 51 an adjustable pivot plate 52 which has its rear portion secured firmly to the base plate 48 by the screws 50 but which extends angularly away from the base plate 48 as indicated by the angle at the point 53a so as to be yieldingly compressed toward the base plate member 48 by adjusting the screws 51 so as to vary the distance of the pivot 53 relative to the edge 54 of the latch piece 55 secured to the inner faces 56 of the side rails 13 and 18 by suitable screws. Pivotally mounted at the hinge pivots 53 is the hasp member 58 having the latching portion 59 adapted to be engaged over the edge 54 of the latch piece 55. By carefully adjusting the screws 51 to bend the pivot plate 52 relative to the base plate 48 the proper engaging contact is obtained between the latching portion 59 of the hasp member 58 with the edge 54 on the latch piece 55, so that a rigid positive locked-up structure is provided for the chair when assembled.

While the apparatus herein disclosed and described constitutes a preferred form of the invention, it is also to be understood that the apparatus in capable of mechanical alteration without departing from the spirit of the invention and that such mechanical arrangement and commercial adaptation as fall within the scope of the appendent claim are intended to be included herein.

Having thus fully set forth and described this invention what is claimed and desired to be obtained by United States Letters Patent is:

In an article of furniture comprising, a knock-down chair or the like, a left leg side frame including a side rail, a right leg side frame including a side rail, a back frame demountably connected to said side frames, front legs included in said side frames, a stretcher bar, locking means on each end of said stretcher bar, mating locking means on the upper inner facing surfaces of said front legs, a seat, positioning means on said side rails engaging mating positioning means on the bottom of said seat to locate said seat on the side frames, a latch mechanism interconnected between the intermediate inner faces of said side rails and the under side of said seat to secure said seat to said chair structure, said latch mechanism comprising a base plate secured to the bottom of said seat, a resilient pivot plate secured at its inner portion to said base plate and seat and extending laterally divergently from said base plate, a pivot on the divergent outer end of said pivot plate, a hasp pivotally mounted on said pivot, a latching portion on said hasp, a latch piece secured to said References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Ask Apr. 16, 1878 Vankirk Feb. 27, 1894 4 Howe Oct. 4, 1927 Percival -L June 19, 1928 Boenning Mar. 13, 1934 Reitman Dec. 2, 1952 Becker Mar. 8 1955 FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain Apr. 23, 1952 

